By Terry Martin
The Saints looked to make it 8 straight wins as they faced off against the Whitecourt Wolverines tonight for the first time this season. The Wolverines wanted to get back into the win column as they had just lost to the Thunder in a shootout on Wednesday. The Saints are sitting at the top of the North Division, one point ahead of the Pontiacs and eight points above the Wolverines.
The Saints would start hot as Jacob Rochford would open up the scoring in the first period on the first shot of the game. Spruce Grove would continue to push the pace in the game, very little whistles and lots of scoring opportunities. Max Beckford would keep the Saints in the lead with a last second sprawling glove save to stop the Wolverines offensive push. The Saints would also lead on the shot clock 11-7 after 20 minutes of play.
The Wolverines would be the ones to score first in the second period, Tyler Mahan would shoot the puck from the left dot to tie the game with 15 minutes left in the period. Mahan would again score after an unfortunate bounce in front of the Saints net to give Whitecourt a 2-1 lead with 9 minutes to go. Brett Pfoh would then find himself on an odd man rush and he would snipe the puck far side on the Wolverines goalie to tie the game 2-2. The Saints would again lead in shots 29-13 going into the third period.
The Saints would then get their lead back after Luigi Benincasa would set up his own goal after a beautiful toe drag to give them a 3-2 lead. Niko Jovanovic would then add to the Saints lead on the power play to give the team their first multi-goal lead of the game. The Saints would hold on to their lead to win their 8th straight game while also maintaining their perfect record at the Grant Fuhr Arena. The Saints also fired a staggering 51 shots at the Wolverines goalie after 60 minutes of play.
The Spruce Grove Saints continue their home stand tomorrow night against the Grande Prairie Storm, puck drop is 7:00pm.